Japanese theatre actor, Yagyu Keisuke (柳生啓介), praised Yuchun in his first special column ‘Actor’s Eye’ in the Japanese magazine ‘Korean TV Drama Perfect Guide’.

Yagyu Keisuke, ‘Actor’s Eye’: Park Yuchun

First column: Yuchun’s backpack

“Yagyu-san, that backpack ~ it’s cool!” are words that I recently heard from friends. This backpack that I like to show off, is actually the same as the one Yuchun-san carried in ‘Rooftop Prince’.

A late self-introduction. Everyone, nice to meet you, I’m Yagyu Keisuke, an actor from the drama company, ‘Zenshinza’(劇団前進座). As an actor, to learn from others, I started watching Korean dramas and it has been 10 years without me realising it. The dramas’ higher meaning, ideals, being moved, the sincere attitude of actors towards their roles, their passion and sacrifice towards acting give me an enormous amount of strength. As an actor, that is the goal that I’m aiming for.

This is of course not enough, but I am an actor like them, and using my point of view,this column observes the appeal of Korean drama actors. For the first article, it is an extremely outstanding actor that has the most of my attention right now — Park Yuchun-san.

The first time I saw actor Park Yuchun was in ‘Miss Ripley’. Although, frankly, I didn’t know much about him except that he was formerly a member of TVXQ and debuted (as an actor) not long ago, but I was stunned by his excellent acting.

‘Miss Ripley’ is a story about Miri, acted by Lee DaHae-san, who used her good looks, faked her credentials, deceived men and outwitted the world in order to escape from her difficult life. Yuchun-san acted as Song Yoo Hyun, a 2nd generation chaebol (family-run business conglomerate) who is deeply in love with Miri. In the first half, he acted brightly as a good young man, who is pure and simple unlike a chaebol heir, and devotedly in love with Miri. His look makes you want to say to him: Even if you have a liking for her, how can you be so muddle-headed to be so obsessed with this kind of woman?

In the 2nd half, his look changed. The Yoo Hyun that knows Miri’s true colours is pretty amazing! From here, the true nature of Actor Park Yuchun is revealed.

Everyone, let’s imagine a bit, after knowing that all are lies, that you have been deceived, what would a chaebol-heir do? Yell out angrily, make a big mess in the office, smash your fist in the mirror and it bleeds…. I have seen this kind of scenes many times. If it was me, I may also act it like that.

But Park Yuchun showed the opposite in his acting. His voice was not loud nor emotional, he acted out the inner anguish with quiet and restrain. Why did I open my heart to this lady, he thought deeply and searched for the answer. And later he uncovered the secret that led to her being an orphan; he had to face Miri’s loneliness and longing for her mother, and thought back to his own childhood sadness. In the end, he realised he really did love her before.

If an actor over-relies on the performance of his lines, his expressions or his actions, his acting will become too deliberate. But if you don’t do this, you will feel insecure. Implicit acting, or getting rid of unnecessary acting, is very difficult if you do not go deep into the character’s heart to understand his inner self. Even without saying a word, without using scripted lines to explain, he could show how much anguish Yoo Hyun had, this is a deep level of acting that can’t be described.

Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to watch his debut work, ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’. Then in his 3rd work ‘Rooftop Prince’, he met the best partner and his acting took a flying leap forward, even the world was amazed. Park Yuchun…. a formidable actor appeared.

Now I am performing in Kyoto’s Kabuki play ‘Red Beard’. The character that I am playing doesn’t speak much, although he appears in the first half of the play, he doesn’t have many lines. But he is slowly growing within the story, and in the end, there is love between him and the woman that he has been loving; he’s a rather cool and handsome character. I want to follow the example of Yuchun-san’s acting, even without speaking, the hidden pain in the heart can be conveyed to the viewers. Today’s stage, I will again try my best.

“Red…makes me think of the members who will continue having a very close relationship even in the future!”

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-Micky Yoochun-

"We have always been together as 5.
As the others are not with us right now, it’s embarrassing to say this, but I felt the love from them.
Therefore, I do not wish to forget the most important thing to me, and this song was written based on this feeling."
- Micky Yoochun during Colors promotions (FRaU November Issue) 2009

-About Dong Bang Shin Ki?-

- A thing which I treasure the most
-Micky Yoohun, Nikkan Daily SPorts 2009